Sidley Represents FMR LLC, in Obtaining OCC Approval for “Fidelity Digital Assets, National Association”

Sidley represented FMR LLC, the parent company of Fidelity Investments, in obtaining a landmark approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to convert Fidelity’s New York limited purpose trust company into a national trust bank licensed by the OCC to engage in a broad range of business activities in the digital assets space. On December 12, the OCC publicly announced its approval of Fidelity’s application, part of a leading “first wave” of such approvals for a small number of new or converting digital asset trust banks. The resulting bank will be called “Fidelity Digital Assets, National Association,” and it will relocate its main office from New York to Boston. The bank will offer its retail and institutional customers several products and services related to digital assets, including custody, trade execution, settlement, retirement planning, staking, and asset management. The bank will also issue a Fidelity-sponsored stablecoin in compliance with the GENIUS Act. Law360 discussed this landmark approval and noted Sidley’s representation in an article published on December 12.

The FMR LLC matter (discussed above) involves Sidley lawyers in Washington, D.C., New York, and Chicago. Michael Lewis and Matt Katz (Banking, Payments and Fintech) are leading the team, which includes Dave Teitelbaum, David Monteiro, Kristin Teager, Stanley Boris, Michael Cumming, Nathan Truong, Jordyn Singer, and Kristen Kane (Banking, Payments and Fintech), Jonathan Blackburn, Tom Johnson, and Liz Buescher (M&A and Private Equity), Suresh Advani (Tax), and David Katz, Andrew Blake, Ben Nager, and Garrett Lance (Regulatory and Enforcement).